The
Hand of God goal was scored by
Diego Maradona in the quarter-final match of the
1986 FIFA World Cup between
England and
Argentina, played
22 June 1986 in
Mexico City's
Estadio Azteca. The legacy of this event perhaps best symbolizes the rivalry between the two football teams.
Animosity between the two footballing nations can be traced back to the
sending off of Argentine captain
Antonio Ubaldo Rattin in the England-Argentina match of the
1966 World Cup. In 1986 tensions were running particularly high, largely due to the recent
Falklands War.
Six minutes into the second half the score was 0-0. Maradona cut inside from the right flank and played a
diagonal low pass to the edge of the area to teammate
Jorge Valdano and continued his run in the hope of a one-two movement, Valdano's return, however, was played slightly behind Maradona and reached England's
Steve Hodge, the left-midfielder who had dropped back to defend.
Hodge tried to hook the ball clear but miscued the ball and it screwed off his outstep and into the penalty area, towards the area where Maradona had continued his run. England
goalkeeper Peter Shilton duly came out of his goal to punch the ball clear, with his considerable height (6'1" or 185cm) making him clear favourite to beat Maradona (5'6" or 168cm) to it. However, Maradona (who was not
offside, because the ball was last touched by Hodge, an opponent) reached it first — with the outside of his left
fist. The ball rolled into the back of the net and, to the amazement of the English players, the
referee (Tunisian
Ali Bin Nasser) allowed the goal.
The Argentines celebrated (video shows Maradona looking at the referee with the corner of his eye) while the England players protested to no avail. At the post-game press conference, Maradona exacerbated the controversy further by claiming the goal was scored
"a little bit by the Hand of God, another bit by the head of Maradona". Video and photographic evidence clearly demonstrated that he lifted his forearm to reach the ball before Shilton; TV networks all over the world showed it time and again.
In his
2002 autobiography, Maradona did admit that the ball came off his hand:
<DL><DD>
Now I feel I am able to say what I couldn't then. At the time I called it "the hand of God". Bollocks was it the hand of God, it was the hand of Diego! And it felt a little bit like pickpocketing the English. </DD></DL>In 2005 he justified the goal as a response to the UK's victory in the Falklands War,'Whoever robs a thief gets a 100-year pardon.' on his talk show La Noche del Diez (The Night of the Tenth)
Later in the same match, Maradona scored another goal, regarded by many as the best goal in World Cup history, in which he eluded five English outfield players (
Hoddle,
Reid,
Sansom,
Butcher and
Fenwick) as well as Shilton. In
2002, this goal was voted as the
Goal of the Century. England would score once through
Gary Lineker, and almost score again through the same player, but the disputed goal ultimately proved decisive, meaning England was knocked out of the competition. Argentina went on to win the World Cup.
For the next few days the English press referred to the incident as "The Hand of the Devil".
Argus Software released a football simulation game for
home computers entitled
Peter Shilton's Handball Maradona. Maradona remained unpopular with the English press for many years and when he was later banned from football for drug use, the tabloid newspaper
The Sun stated in a headline "Dirty Diego Gone For Good!".
After
1986, the next competitive meeting between the two sides was at the
1998 World Cup when Argentina would emerge triumphant on penalties after the game ended 2-2. It was most famous for the dismissal of
David Beckham and the emergence of 18 year old striker
Michael Owen, and some histrionic reactions from the Argentine players after their victory which upset the England squad more.
During the
2002 World Cup, the meeting between England and Argentina was one of the few times there had been so much attention given to a first round match. Commentators described the noon match as the "longest lunch break in history" as millions in England stopped their jobs and activities to watch the game on TV. England's 1-0 victory from a Beckham penalty shot, especially as Argentina subsequently failed to qualify for the playoffs, was seen in English quarters as part-revenge. In England, Payback for the Hand of God goal was commemorated with T-shirts displaying the result and the phrase "Look no hands".
When Shilton released his own autobiography in
2004, the famous photo of the Hand Of God moment featured on the back cover. Hodge, meanwhile, escaped vilification in England for his error which led to the incident, and managed to swap shirts with Maradona after the game, which became a very prized memento afterwards.
In August of 2005, World soccer star Diego Armando Maradona admitted for the first time on his new Argentinian television talk show, "No. 10 Live," that the score that gave the victory to his country in the match versus England in the quarter-finals of Mexico 1986 World Cup was scored with his hand.
